Mid-Day Shame

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You are a subsidiary of India’s leading Dainik Jagran newspaper. But you don’t have the resources to run this tabloid – Mid-Day. Don’t tell me that. Yes, it is true that I never bought your single edition, but this does not mean I’ll buy your theory.

It’s shameful that you even tried to sell sex through your pages. And now you’ve closed down your Delhi and Bangalore editions, citing resource crunch and fooling your staff and public. Your digital edition that you wish to continue cannot be viewed by your family members for its cheap images that should make you rather ashamed of yourself.

I don’t know how your workers are going to take you – head on or surrender like any other modern day journalist. But I can feel the pain. You were an afternoon daily, never so full of content though. But the sudden announcement of closure is totally surprising. You are also as deadly as the management of The Hindustan Times which retrenched its workers – both journalists and non-journalists – on Gandhi’s birthday few years back.

Didn’t you promise you will heat up the Delhi tabloid market when your Mumbai group acquired the Delhi Mid Day title from the late Lalit Suri-owned Bharat Hotels Group? And now I’m given to understand that you did not give your staff even 24 hours to think how to react to your arbitrariness, which in fact is an anti-thesis to fair play and equity.

And is this the letter of your Chief Executive Officer Manajit Ghoshal, announcing your demise!!! You were a tabloid, and were supposed to tell stories. And this time you’ve shared a petty bad story with us. Shame on you!

Cover page of the MiD Day (26 June, 2007) showing an IT mall under construction by a firm promoted by Indian Chief Justice Y. K. Sabharwal's sons

“Dear colleagues,

It’s with a heavy heart that I have to announce the closure of Mid-Day Delhi and Mid-Day Bangalore editions. Tomorrow’s issue will be the last issue for both the editions. This has been necessitated by the prolonged losses we had to incur on these editions.

The idea behind starting these editions was to establish these brands in these cities and make a difference in the lives of the citizens there. We had begun well and were appreciated for the quality of product we put out. However, in a corporate scenario the books need to be balanced.

Due to the ever increasing competition in the print media space, the funds required for breakeven in these cities kept escalating. Finally, we had to take this call. We will however, continue to maintain a news bureau in Delhi and our sales offices in Bangalore and Delhi.

But, every dark cloud has a silver lining. The silver lining in this is that Mumbai Mid-Day now will have the strength to soar to greater heights. By cutting our losses in Delhi and Bangalore editions, we will be able to bolster our circulation in Mumbai.

Apart from the plan to channel these investments, Jagran group (our parent company) will invest a large sum in boosting Mid-Day’s circulation in Mumbai. This will give our sales guys across the country to pitch Mumbai Mid-Day to clients and agencies in a new light.

We need to now concentrate on building brand Mid-Day in Mumbai and monetizing Mumbai Mid-Day’s large increase in circulation and in this our sales colleagues in Delhi, Bangalore and Pune will have to play a significant part.

Gujrati Mid-Day and Inquilab continue to go from strength to strength. We are increasing the circulation of GMD at a brisk pace and will continue to do so. Inquilab has flourished in the north and we now have 14 editions in all and are far ahead of any competition in the Urdu space.

Mid-Day Pune is an extension of Mid-Day Mumbai just as the Pune city is an extension of Mumbai. Mid-Day Pune will continue to run at an ever increasing pace and we will be monitoring the Pune media market keenly to spot opportunities to improve the circulation of Midday Pune.

We will continue to invest aggressively in our digital properties as we believe that this is a medium whose time has come.

5th December, 2011 is an important day in the history of Mid-Day. Today, we will have to halt and think. Think about many of our colleagues who will have to move on.

It’s a testing time for them as it is for us. Right now it might look dark but I am sure both of us will come out of this with flying colours. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors. We also need to think about the added responsibilities for all of us who remain in this great organization and who have to carry its legacy forward. Let’s begin this phase of our journey with renewed vigour and conviction.

In conclusion, I can only say that all dreams may not fructify but that will only encourage us to try harder and bring us closer, marching forward with a vision which only we can realise. We strive for continuity and absolutes but are reminded time and again that change is the only constant.

In this time of great pain and heavy responsibility, I am sure God will give us the tenacity to walk on-and then to break into a run-and once again soar to live our destiny.

Cheers Manajit Ghoshal”

What cheers this? Which flying colours Mr. Manajit Ghoshal? It is so shameful.